Hair clip



June 21, 1949. E. OSWALD 2,473,725

HAIR CLIP Filed July 23, 1948 'lNVENTOR 'EM/LE OSWALD BYMW ATTORNEYPatented June 21, 1949 UNITED STATES OFF lCTEL HAIR C1211" Emileswald=,.BockawayParkgN; Y.

Application July 23, 1948, Serial No. 40,265

6 Claims; 1-

This invention relates to. hair clips adapted to be used by hairdressersin setting? the hair-oi; the patron. according to the. coifiure. stylewhich may be desired or prescribed. for the individual person.

It is the common practice in the setting of hair, to form selectedstrands of hair. in predetermined locations over the head according tothe styling desired, into closely spaced curls. while the hair is in wetor damp condition. These-curls are generally quite small and, as theyareformed over the fingerof the operator, they are secured in individuallyformed condition. by hairpins, which may be of the ordinary." straightor corrugated". shank type or even of the bobby: pin variety.

The discriminating operator recognizes that the placement of these. pinsis: important in; order that individual curls may hold their'shapieanddry in proper form. Considerable skill be exercised in accomplishingthis result; order that, when dried, adjacent: curls: will; be; wellformed,.and willharmonize'witlr one another and with adjacentwavesiwhichmay'form part of: the coiffure. Proper pinning'oi'the hair inthemannerstated requires considerableitime; and a large number of pins areemployed to insure the shape desired:

The object of the present invention is'to provide a clip which may beused in the setting. of pin curls to the. exclusion of hairpins and saoons-tituted as to satisfactorily holdthecurls-inz termed conditionuntil they are dried;

Clipsfor this general purpose have heretofore been suggested but theyhave not proven sat-isfactory nor acceptablefor various reasons.- Themost common objection'is that such prior devices destroy, flatten,-orcrush thecurlso that a satisfactory coifiure is not obtained.Otherasuch: as those made from sheetmetal, plates and strips, encloseportions of the curlin such manner as to seriously interfere withuniform drying. They necessitate a relatively long period of. waitingwhich entails extra expense. due to prolonged operation of the drying:machines andimpatience on the part of. the patrcm, which" reacts tothedetriment of thebeauty'salon whichis using such devices. The tendency isto speedup the-operation and make up the coiifure before the hair isproperly dried andwhen this isdone, the hair will notretain its styling;

With theseconsiderations in. mind; the; clip of. the; present inventionis: so constituted that it cannot crush the. curl to: whiclr it' isappliedgwili' hold the curlin propenshape without the em.-

ployment. of pins and: will permit ofuniform ventilationOrciiCll'ldtiOli of air, heated'orotherwise,throughall partsof the curlso as to permit ofidryingof-the-hair in a minimum of time and with thecurl inperfect condition.

An important feature of the invention resides in the simplicity ofthepresent clip and the ease with which it may be applied; its lightnessin weight, its economy of manufacture and its durability.

Speaking generally, the clip of this invention, in its preferred form,is made entirely 'of-"on-e' piece of spring Wire oi relatively lightgauge but oi'suflici'ent inherent resiliency to retain its shape and tohold' itself upon the hair without noticeably crushing the same. Thissingle length of wire is bent to form upper and lower gripping jawswhich respectively extend through one another intermediate the ends ofthe clip to form at thebase of the'clip a bowed resilient portiondirectly adjacent which are flattened portions serving as finger pieceswhereby the jaws may tie-manipulated. The bowed portion is biased tonormally force the jaws into contact with one anotherbut-manual pressuremay be exerted on the linger pieces toovercome this biasing, therebypermitting separation of the jaws so that the clip may be brought intocooperation with the curl. T-helower-jaw of the clip is curved to substantially conform with the curvature of the scalp and adaptedto-underlie the curl. The upper'jaw is-in the form of a loop adapted tooverhe thetop-of the curl. The opposite sides of the loop are drawn-inintermediate their ends to form re-entrant' portions to project downinto the-central opening of thecurl to hold this opening in shape;Thewhole structure is so constituted as to hold the curl" firmly withoutcrushing it and at thesame time maintain it in proper shape.

Features of the invention other than those specified will be apparentfrom thefollowing detailed. description when. read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings.

In the accompanying, drawings, I have shown the preferredforms of the.present. invention but the showing is to be understood as illustrative,only, and; not as. defining the: limits of. the invention;

Figure. 1 is-a. perspective view showing. a clip made in accordancewiththis invention.

2.1is a side elevation. of. the clipshown Figures: 3 aud t. areviewssimilai: to:-F.igure 1 but showing modified: forms-oiconstruction.

Referring first to Figures 1 and 2, I form the clip of this inventionfrom one piece of relatively small gauge spring wire. This is bent byappropriate dies or otherwise to form a lower jaw 1. consisting of twosubstantially parallel arms 2 which are longitudinally shaped tosubstantially conform to the human scalp and these arms 2 have free endscorresponding to the free ends of the wire from which the clip is made.At the bases of the arms 2 they are ofiset in an upward direction bybending the wires upwardly as shown at 3 for a relatively short distanceand then bending the wires rearwardly to form a substantially flat upperfinger piece 4. Intermediate the ends of said finger pieces the wiresthereof are twisted with any desired number of turns to secure themtogether as shown at 5.

Beyond the substantially fiat finger piece 4 the wires are bent,preferably on the arcs of coaxial circles, to form a resilient bowedportion 5 at the rear-end of the clip. This bowed portion extends fromthe upper finger piece 4 to a point below the lower jaw i and mergesinto a lower finger piece la corresponding to the upper finger piece 4and similarly formed but in spaced relation below the latter. The wiresof the lower finger piece are also twisted together at 5a.

Forwardly of the lower finger piece la the wires are offset upwardly, asat 3a, between the offset portion 3 and then fiare outwardly to form theupper jaw 7 of the clip. This upper jaw is in the form of a shaped loopof somewhat greater length and width than the lower jaw l, but the sidesof the upper jaw loop intermediate their ends are bent inwardly towardone another to form reentrant portions 8 which curve downwardly as theyapproach one another so as to normally project downwardly between thearms 2 of the lower jaw l when the clip is in normal closed position.

The parts of the clip are normally as shown in full lines in thedrawings To open the jaws, pressure is applied by the thumb and firstfinger of the operators hand to the upper and lower finger pieces 4 and4a to bend the bowed portion 6 of such clip in a manner to decrease thenormal radius of its curvature. This causes the upper gripping jaw l tobe elevated and the lower gripping jaw 2 to be depressed whereby saidjaws are separated from one another and moved into the open positionsshown in dotted lines in Figure 2.

While the clip is held in this condition the arms 2 of the lower jaw Imay be readily brought into contact with the scalp and longitudinallyshifted to underlie the formed curl. The re-entrant portions 8 of theupper jaw 1 will then overlie the opening in the center of the curlwhile the remaining portions of the upper jaw will overlie the curlitself. The finger pieces may then be relieved of the pressure which hasheld the jaws in open position, to permit the resilient bowed portions 6to autogenously close the clip upon the hair. As this occurs, there-entrant portions 8 will enter into the opening in the curl to keepthis opening in shape, while the upper and lower jaws gently close uponthe curl itself with insuflicient pressure to crush the curl but to gripit firmly enough to maintain the clip in place thereon.

It is to be noted that at the base of the jaws l and 1, the wire of theupper jaw overlies the arms 2 at the base of the lower jaw, so that,when the jaws are in closed position, the extent of their closing may becontrolled by contact between these parts and these portions may be soconstituted as to preclude complete closing of the jaws and consequentcrushing of the curl.

It will be noted from Figure 2 that the outer end of the upper jaw I isbent downwardly somewhat so that the upper jaw will engage the lower jawand preclude crushing of the curl. The extreme end of the upper jaw willcome into fairly close proximity to the scalp and overlie the outer freeends of the arms 2 of the lower jaw so that the hand of the operator, inapplying similar clips to adjacent curls, will not be apt to strike theprojecting ends of the clip and inadvertently dislodge it or move it outof place. When the clip is applied to a curl it will hug the scalpclosely without undesirable projecting parts. It will not tend to coverany portion of the curl in a manner to interfere with proper drying but,on the contrary, will expose all portions thereof to a free circulationof air through the curl to permit rapid drying.

When the hair is dried, the clip may be expeditiously removed byreversing the operations stated and experience has shown that it leavesthe curl in perfectly formed condition susceptible to perfootmanipulation into the planned coiffure.

The preferred form of the invention is as shown in Figures 1 and 2,although certain advantages of the invention may be obtained byutilizing the structure of Figure 3 which is the same as the structureof Figures 1 and 2, except that both the upper and lower jaws arecomposed of substantially parallel overlapping arms. In other words, thelower arms 2a are made exactly as the lower arms 2 of Figure 1, but theupper arms 1a are utilized in lieu of the looped jaw 1 of Figure 1. Allof the arms 2a and la are curved to substantially conform to the shapeof the scalp.

The structure of Figure 4 is the same as the structure of Figure 3 withone exception, namely, that instead of twisting the wire together asshown at 5 and 5a in Figure 3, the wire is simply brought into edgeabutting relation and these abutting portions welded to one another asindicated at 5b and 50. In the structure of Figure l, I may, if desired,utilize the welding shown in Figure 4 instead of twisting the wiretogether as shown at 5 and 5a in Figure 1. In other words, the structureof Figure 4 may have the upper jaw in the form of the loop as shown inFigure 1.

The clips of Figures 3 and 4 are made of two pieces of wire instead of asingle piece of wire as in Figure 1.

It will be apparent from the foregoing detailed description that thestructures of this invention are extremely simple yet highly efficientin the performance of its intended functions. The clip may beeconomically manufactured and, if properly handled, may be used overlong periods without losing its shape. Its application to the hair andremoval therefrom saves much time of the operator in the setting of thehair and the patron is well served.

The foregoing detailed description sets forth the invention in itspreferred practical forms, but the invention is to be understood asfully commensurate with the appended clams.

This case is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No.723,281, filed January 21, 1947, allowed April 6, 1948, and nowabandoned.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: wire bent to form upper andlower jaws with the base of each jaw offset to a point beyond the outerface of the other jaw and there formed into a finger piece, both fingerpieces being united at their ends opposite the jaws by an integralspring spacer adapted to be flexed for the purpose of opening andclosing the jaws, the lower jaw being in the form of substantiallyparallel arms shaped to substantially conform to the shape of the humanscalp and the upper jaw being in the form of a loop of greater widththan the lower jaw and the sides of which loop are drawn in intermediate ends of the loop to form reentrant portions extending toward oneanother and curved downwardly between the arms of the lower jaw.

2. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: a single piece of wire, one endportion of which is formed into parallel arms longitudinally curved toconform with the scalp and collectively constituting a lower jaw,another portion of the wire being looped to form an upper jaw, the wireat the bases of said jaws being oifset in opposite directions so thatthe extension of the wire of the lower jaw overlaps the extension of thewire of the upper jaw to limit the closing movement of said jaws, saidwire being formed beyond the offsets with vertically spaced apartsubstantially flat portions constituting finger pieces, the wire of eachof which is twisted together and merges into bowed portions connectingthe wire of the upper and lower finger pieces.

3. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: wire bent to form a relativelywide upper jaw and a relatively narrow lower jaw both of which jaws arelongitudinally curved to substantially conform to the shape of thescalp, with the base of the upper jaw ofiset downwardly and there formedwith a finger piece and the base of the lower jaw offset upwardly andthere formed With a finger piece, both finger pieces being united I?! attheir ends opposite the jaws by an integral spring spacer adapted to beflexed for the purpose of opening and closing the jaws, the oppositesides of said upper jaw being provided intermediate their ends withre-entrant portions which overlie the corresponding opposite sides ofthe lower jaw.

4. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: wire bent to form a relativelywide loop-shaped upper jaw, and a pair of substantially parallel armscollectively constituting a relatively narrow lower jaw both of whichjaws are longitudinally curved to substantially conform to the shape ofthe scalp, with the base of the upper jaw offset downwardly and thereformed with a finger piece and the base of the lower jaw offset upwardlyand there formed with a finger piece, both finger pieces being united attheir ends opposite the jaws by an integral spring spacer adapted to beflexed for the purpose of opening and closing the jaws, the oppositesides of said loop-shaped upper jaw being provided intermediate theirends with re-entrant portions which respectively overlie the contiguousarms of the lower jaw.

5. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: wire bent to form upper andlower jaws longitudinally curved to substantially conform to the shapeof the scalp, the wire at the bases of said jaws being offset inopposite directions so that the exten sion of the wire of the lower jawoverlaps the extension of the wire of the upper jaw to limit the closingmovement of said jaws, said wire being formed beyond the offsets withvertically spaced apart substantially fiat portions constituting fingerpieces, the wire of each of the finger pieces is twisted together andmerges into bowed portions connecting the wire of the upper and lowerfinger pieces.

6. A hair clip for pin curls comprising: wire bent to form upper andlower jaws longitudinally curved to substantially conform to the shapeof the scalp, the wire at the bases of said jaws being oifset inopposite directions so that the extension of the wire of the lower jawoverlaps the extension of the wire of the upper jaw to limit the closingmovement of said jaws, said wire being formed beyond the ofisets withvertically spaced apartsubstantially flat portions constituting fingerpieces, the wire of each of which finger pieces being secured togetherand merging into bowed No references cited.

